A smartphone-integrated programmable dual-mode universal sensing platform: Enabling point-of-care screening of cross-category tumor biomarkers.

Abstract

Early screening and diagnosis of cancers are crucial for improving patient survival rates, while the accurate detection of diverse tumor biomarkers is critical to achieve this goal. However, traditional diagnostic platforms often suffer from poor target compatibility and rely on bulky instruments, making them difficult to meet the demand for detecting cross-category molecules. This study developed a smartphone-integrated fluorescence/absorbance dual-mode sensing platform for detection of multiple tumor biomarkers. Relying on the high programmability of the underlying probes, the platform achieved universal detection of nucleic acids, small-molecule metabolites, and macromolecular proteins biomarkers simply by replacing the target recognition (rec) sequences. Quantitative analysis revealed that utilizing a custom-built portable spectral reader (PSR), the limits of detection (LODs) of the dual-mode (fluorescence/absorbance) for microRNA-21 (miRNA-21), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are as low as 0.11 pM/0.17 pM, 27.48 nM/38.46 nM, and 0.04 pg/mL/0.11 pg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, in the proof-of-concept analysis of clinical serum and cell samples, the platform not only exhibited excellent anti-interference capability, but also achieved accurate quantification and discrimination between patients and healthy individuals. Therefore, this work not only provides a cost-effective solution for the sensitive detection of cross-category biomarkers, but also offers a highly promising tool for minimally invasive detection and timely intervention of cancers.